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Topic Review (Newest First)

12-02-2000 08:39 AM

Lefty

RE:Tiger Trout

To clarify: I think the picture of the Tiger in hand above is from Kevin posted by Al. Al seems to have decided his fish was a Splake.
Grego- you're right, this thread has been very informative in many dimensions.

Terry

12-02-2000 07:39 AM

grego

RE:Tiger Trout

As one who is completely ignorant of such things as Char, Splake, & so on, thanks for the education!

11-29-2000 01:37 PM

troutbum

RE:Tiger Trout

That is most definitely a tiger trout, i've caught 3 of them in the last two years. The giveaway is the square tail-splake have a forked tail! The tiger is a cross of the square tailed brookie I so love to catch! Never eaten one though, anyone know how they taste? Better than a fresh brookie?

11-29-2000 09:55 AM

juro

RE:Tiger Trout

But your honor I didn't inhale

To be clear, although I love the sport of it as much as anyone I fundamentally disagree with man's forced marriages of species for gain other than that which mother nature intended. Luckily, she makes them unable to reproduce!

As I may have said earlier, I am also disturbed that the whole whirling disease epidemic in the US was caused in the name of having more 'sport'. I'm no "fish anthropologist" but I have to wonder why the brown was the only indigenous trout in it's home range in Europe and it is the resistant carrier of the spirochete. Just a theory but scares me when I think of native steelhead and their landlocked form (rainbow) and other American species at risk.

11-29-2000 09:14 AM

Lefty

RE:Tiger Trout

Al: Where you get those Tiger photos?

Juro: Splake, Tigers: Are these the fish you refered to as "Frakenfish"? Both are crossbreads right?

I've forwarded the photo of the Tiger Trout to Al so he can post it on the Forum. In talking to the NYS DEC, they have not stocked Tigers for 10 years or more so they definitely consider this a natural hybrid. Several weeks later, another guide had a client who caught a Tiger on a different river. The client though it was a yellow perch and was ready to chuck it into the woods (you don't have to take an IQ test to get a fishing license). The guide fortunately saw the fish before he had a chance to pitch it and stop him for a more proper release. This guide does a column for a local paper and had just recently run the story and photos of our Tiger Trout so he knew what it was right away.

For those of you inquiring, I'm owner-operator of the Ausable River Sport Shop in Wilmington, NY right on the West Branch of the Ausable. I have a website (www.ausableriversportshop.com) that gives daily updates on river and fishing conditions. So if you're heading over this way, you can check things out before you get here.

Splake sounds like the right ID for the mystery fish. They're a much more popular hybrid them Tigers and do well in stillwaters. I also believe its an easier hybrid to achieve in hatcheries.

BTW Trutta, they may have told you that's a pic of a Tiger, but it sure looks like a good old Brown Trout to me.

Now, light and dark can vary, as can coloration due to any number of factors cited above. Brookies and browns will both have red spots, but different kinds and brookies' have a blue halo. But brookies, browns and their hybrid tigers have square tails and we have a report of a distinctly forked tail. The bull trout hypothesis is rejected for being outlandish (fisheries managers these days are more sensitive than they used to be to the ecological appropriateness of species to regions; I can't believe anyone would have stocked one in a Cape Cod kettlehole on a whim).

So, with a forked tail and any plausibility of being here you've got two choices: landlocked salmon (trout*) or lake trout (char). So it all comes down to the spots.

[*not really a trout, of course, but meets the "dark spots" criterion]

Now, my guess is that you've played with this fish in your mind too many times and can no longer tell whether it was dimpled or pregnant or dangling, but if you can answer the spots question I believe you've answered the ID question.

11-28-2000 02:19 PM

trutta

RE:Tiger Trout

Hi Kevin:
You mention the West Branch of the Ausable. That can only be the one in NY State. I have regularly fished that river for over 20 years now. Where are you located and what's the name of your guiding service?

Well, all I can say for certain at this point is that it was NOT a tiger. Well, actually I'm not certain of anything. Juro makes a good point. The tiger has the right profile. The spots were distinct like a brown with halo and all.

Anyway, here's a laker:

The bull pictured above is still the closest thing I've seen to date. On the other hand, I've seen some other pics of bulls that looked nothing like what I saw.

11-28-2000 10:43 AM

Lefty

RE:Tiger Trout

Here's a press release (couple years old) but may give an idea as to where the state of Mass. is putting these Tigers.

Released March 18, 1998

TIGER TROUT STOCKED

This year spring trout stocking will include Tiger Trout -- 300 of them averaging 15 inches long. According to the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife tigers are hybrid trout produced by fertilizing female brown trout eggs with sperm from male brook trout. The name "tiger trout" stems from the appearance of the adult fish which have beautiful tiger-like stripes on their backs. The tiger trout being stocked this year were raised at the state fish hatchery in Sandwich.